To some, blogging is considered an “old” new media tool. Although interest in blogging seemed to have peaked about a decade ago, these environments are heavily used among special interest groups, activists, and companies. Blogs allow anyone to publish content on their own space, and anyone in the world with access to the Internet may read and respond to that content. For this ongoing project, each of you will create your own blog, which will be used to post journal entries and other expressive writing throughout the semester. To encourage collaboration, you are required to post two comments on your classmates' blogs for each formal post. We will occasionally spend entire course periods working in a computer lab, but you will occasionally be asked to post blog entries and comments outside of class. Your Personal Blog will allow you to generate content and ideas as we read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
You will be provided with a writing prompt and/or particular criteria and media for inclusion for each blog post. These prompts will be provided to you as the course progresses. As of now, anticipate writing roughly 10 posts on your blog and 20 comments (2 comments per formal blog post). Note the number of posts you will be assigned may exceed this preliminary number.
Post Evaluation
Your posts will generally provide you with a significant amount of freedom and creativity. Each post will also have its own length requirements, whereas some will require the inclusion of particular elements (images, video, audio, etc.). For this reason, your blog posts will be assessed using the following rubric:
3 – The post exceeds expectations of the prompt. The writing is interesting and engaging. Text and media are incorporated effectively, and the writing is clear, logical, and free of errors. When citing (if applicable), the writer cites appropriately in MLA style.
2 – The post meets expectations of the prompt. The post shows engagement in the material, but displays particular areas for improvement. Text and media are incorporated effectively, but there are minor errors in either writing or MLA style.
1 – The post fails to meet expectations of the prompt. The post displays either a lack of engagement or an ineffective use of text and media. The writing may display some errors in clarity, logic, or MLA style.
Comment Evaluation
At a minimum, each comment must reach at least 40 words. You are encouraged, however, to exceed the minimum requirement for each post. You must comment on two blog posts per formal post I assign, selecting two different students for each post. In each comment, strive to highlight at least one interesting or effective element displayed in the text. All comments will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
Overall Evaluation
All the scores from your posts and comments will be averaged. Remember that your Personal Blog Project will account for 10 points (or 10%) of your overall grade in the course.
1. Electronic literacy narrative
2. Outline for multimodal rhetorical analysis
3. How would you feel if you discovered that investigators had taken cells or tissues from some member of your family without consent? Length requirement: 150 words.
4. Find one possible electronic source for your research project. Post the link on your blog. Write a description of the source and how it might be useful to you.
5. Reaction to Welcome, Freshmen. DNA Swabs, Please.
6. Reaction to Confronting a Fetal Abnormality.
7. Research proposal for feedback.
8. Preliminary list of sources.
You will be provided with a writing prompt and/or particular criteria and media for inclusion for each blog post. These prompts will be provided to you as the course progresses. As of now, anticipate writing roughly 10 posts on your blog and 20 comments (2 comments per formal blog post). Note the number of posts you will be assigned may exceed this preliminary number.
Post Evaluation
Your posts will generally provide you with a significant amount of freedom and creativity. Each post will also have its own length requirements, whereas some will require the inclusion of particular elements (images, video, audio, etc.). For this reason, your blog posts will be assessed using the following rubric:
3 – The post exceeds expectations of the prompt. The writing is interesting and engaging. Text and media are incorporated effectively, and the writing is clear, logical, and free of errors. When citing (if applicable), the writer cites appropriately in MLA style.
2 – The post meets expectations of the prompt. The post shows engagement in the material, but displays particular areas for improvement. Text and media are incorporated effectively, but there are minor errors in either writing or MLA style.
1 – The post fails to meet expectations of the prompt. The post displays either a lack of engagement or an ineffective use of text and media. The writing may display some errors in clarity, logic, or MLA style.
Comment Evaluation
At a minimum, each comment must reach at least 40 words. You are encouraged, however, to exceed the minimum requirement for each post. You must comment on two blog posts per formal post I assign, selecting two different students for each post. In each comment, strive to highlight at least one interesting or effective element displayed in the text. All comments will be graded on a pass/fail basis.
Overall Evaluation
All the scores from your posts and comments will be averaged. Remember that your Personal Blog Project will account for 10 points (or 10%) of your overall grade in the course.
Student Blog List
Alicia Allred
Shelby Brown
Colin Garlock
Kevin Geyer
Chevy Goble
Ben Henry
Tyler King
Jess Kisner
Jessica Kreuser
Txuci Lee
Aaron Luhm
Danielle Maroney
Damion Opstad
Jon Onnen
Randy Rojas
Andy Russell
Sami Ryan
Kaia Schumacher
Tyler Shelby
Maelyn Soriano
Kenny Walker
Elena Weseman
Logan Willeck
David Wu
Blog Post Masterlist
1. Electronic literacy narrative2. Outline for multimodal rhetorical analysis
3. How would you feel if you discovered that investigators had taken cells or tissues from some member of your family without consent? Length requirement: 150 words.
4. Find one possible electronic source for your research project. Post the link on your blog. Write a description of the source and how it might be useful to you.
5. Reaction to Welcome, Freshmen. DNA Swabs, Please.
6. Reaction to Confronting a Fetal Abnormality.
7. Research proposal for feedback.
8. Preliminary list of sources.
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